A common problem associated with today's garment hangers is that the garments slip off the hanger and fall to the floor. This problem is particularly annoying to a consumer who places a relatively expensive and fragile garment, such as a business suit, on a garment hanger with a fairly slippery upper surface. The slacks, skirt and/or coat often falls to the floor and becomes wrinkled, thereby requiring ironing or dry cleaning. It is also annoying to the manufacturers of garments who ship the completed garments on garment hangers to retail establishments only to have the garments fall off of the hangers during transit. By the same token, retailers are very particular about product presentation and will not tolerate garment hangers that permit the garments to fall to the floor.
There have been several attempts to remedy this situation. Specifically, garment hangers with upwardly protruding nipples, ridges, cleats or button-like projections are well known. However, none of these designs acceptably grips the garments because the various gripping means, such as cleats, are made from the same hard, slippery material used to fabricate the rest of the body of the garment hanger. The weight of the garment alone against the upward protrusions does not provide enough friction to keep the garment from falling on the floor. This is especially true with lightweight women's apparel; the downward force of lightweight garments on the garment hanger and/or gripping means does not provide enough friction to keep the lightweight garment from falling on the floor.
Yet another strategy to solve this problem has been to fabricate the gripping means or upward protrusions out of a resilient material, such as rubber, as opposed to the hard material used to fabricate the body of the garment hanger. This strategy suffers from the above-mentioned shortcomings too because conventional rubber is a fairly hard substance and does not grip lightweight garments well. The force of gravity on a lightweight garment does not generate enough friction between the garment and the conventional rubber gripping means to keep the garment from falling on the floor.
Hence, there is a need for a new garment hanger that will positively grip a garment under the garments' own weight. The hanger must be able to grip the garment without either marking or adhering to the garment fabric. Further, because the hanger must be capable of use as shipping hangers by clothing manufacturers, the hanger must be able to maintain its gripping ability under a wide range of temperatures and rough handling resulting from the shocks and bumps of which such hangers are exposed to during shipment. Finally, the dissimilar components of the hanger must be easily bonded to one another.
This invention provides a solution to all of the above-mentioned problems and satisfies all of the above criteria. The family of resilient materials identified provides positive gripping action for lightweight and heavyweight garments alike. The family of materials also provides excellent gripping ability in both cold and hot environments. The materials are smooth to the touch and do not mark the garments. Finally, they adhere easily to conventional plastic garment hangers.